1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an emergency battery system, preferably portable, designed for an extremely long shelf life, that can ultimately be used in an emergency to provide direct current electrical power to one or more small electrical devices such as a flashlight, signal light, cellular phone, portable radio, or other emergency system requiring electricity, and in particular, to a battery system that is reliable after remaining unused for years, primarily for specific use in an emergency.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Three different types of portable, small battery systems are well known for use in emergency situations.
Standard conventional dry cell batteries of various sizes from AAA to C and D-size batteries are conventionally used in flashlights, emergency lights, and even cellular phones. Such conventional dry cell batteries lose their charge through self-discharge over a period of time and are inoperable after a predetermined amount of years on the shelf, even without ever actually having been used.
Rechargeable batteries, such as nickel cadmium batteries have been used extensively in recent years. One primary difference between a dry cell battery and a rechargeable battery is that the rechargeable battery can be periodically recharged so that the battery remains ready for operation, notwithstanding self-discharge of the battery over a period of time. In fact, rechargeable batteries self-discharge faster than typical dry cell batteries. Therefore, if they are not recharged often, a rechargeable battery that sits on the shelf for years will, in fact, have no charge and will not be operable.
Thirdly, a primary reserve, water-activated battery has been used for small survival lights or emergency radios. Typically, the primary reserve, water-activated battery is a high impedance battery which is used to power a small signal light or the like. The primary reserve, water-activated batter has an extremely long, extended shelf life, provided that no water is received into the battery. Once water or moisture is added to the water-activated battery, then the battery is in an activated state and will continue until it is completely discharged.
One primary drawback of both a dry cell battery and a rechargeable battery is their relatively short shelf life. Typically, after years of non-use, at the moment of need, during an extreme emergency situation, the dry cell battery, or the rechargeable battery, has no charge. This obviously results in emergency equipment not being operable at the critical moment of time. Therefore, the use of dry cell batteries for emergency equipment requires constant vigilance in monitoring the state of charge of the dry cell periodically and requiring changing of batteries to insure future reliability, a costly undertaking. Thus, the expense is not only the time required to monitor, but also the use of numerous batteries over a long period of time which have to be changed. Obviously, with rechargeable batteries, the problem of monitoring and recharging the batteries is again costly, time consuming, and requiring vigilance over a long period of time to insure that an emergency system will be usable at the critical moment.
The present invention overcomes the problems in the prior art by providing a relatively inexpensive battery system that does not require monitoring, that does not require constant changing of batteries, and that can be depended upon to provide emergency electrical power at the moment of need no matter how many years the system has remained on the shelf. The system, in accordance with the invention, employs a primary reserve, water-activated battery that may be used 1) together with its own rechargeable battery that can power an emergency appliance, 2) to charge an appliance having its own self-contained rechargeable battery, or 3) be configured to provide specific voltage directly to a particular appliance, such as, for example, a 25 watt radio with 4 to 5 amps of required power.